Politics
Elections and Voting When an election is occurring, each family will vote independently. On everybody’s country card will be a count of the number of senators that the family controls. This is essentially the number of ‘votes’ the family will cast. A simple majority is needed to pass a proposal into law. Since there are 600 senators, 301 votes are needed for something to pass if every family votes. The consuls will control voting (usually they will agree upon one of the two to do this, but either can at any time). The senate will debate a bill and then the Consul will draw up the law to be voted on. Consuls, put the final text of the law in italics and with a quote. To vote, quote the italic text of the resolution in question in the thread and put a bolded “Vote: Yes, No, or Abstain” (a la werewolf games). Also include the number of senate votes your family has in parentheses after your vote, for ease of tallying the vote. “Vote: Yes (100) If for some reason you wish to change your vote, bold type "Unvote" and then vote again. If one of your family members has veto power, you may veto any resolution that is being voted on, by quoting the resolution and posting “Veto” in bold, in the same way as a regular vote. Once a particular resolution reaches a majority of senate votes (301), it will immediately be passed into law. After this point, changing a yes vote to no will not un-pass the law. If a law does not reach a majority by the turn deadline, then it will pass if it has more "Yes" votes than "No" votes. All families not voting are considered abstaining. There are three stages a bill can be in, Pending, Passed, or Enacted. Pending A Pending bill is a bill that has been proposed, but has not yet reached the 301 votes needed for passage. Votes may be placed, or changed, and someone with veto power may block the bill. Once a bill has received the necessary 301 votes, it is considered Passed. Passed Passed bills are not yet law, and votes may still be placed (although these votes will have no impact on the status of the bill). Votes may not be changed in this phase. Anybody with veto power may still veto a bill during this stage. Enacted At the conclusion of the turn, all passed bills are considered Enacted. Additionally, bills that were still pending but received more yes votes than no votes will also be enacted. (This would happen if not everybody voted on a specific law). Political Parties In Rome, there were two major political factions, the Populares and the Optimates. Populares were a populist, liberal faction in the senate who thought that the best way to govern Rome was to appease the masses. Optimates, on the other hand, were conservative, even reactionary, and thought it best to keep the traditional patrician families in power. The two parties clashed repeatedly, usually along family lines, but sometimes a family would vote the other way if it suited its needs. Patricians were fairly evenly divided between Populares and Optimates, while the plebs were naturally almost entirely Populares. Offices There are numerous political offices in Rome that members of a family might be elected to. If a member of your family holds an office, the player must perform the duties of that office. The list is as follows: Consul Two consuls are elected yearly, and it is their job to preside over the senate, introduce bills, and may veto them as well. Consuls also often lead senatorial armies into battle. Additionally, Consuls appoint the Proconsuls who govern provinces (often themselves at the end of their terms). Consuls hold Imperium during their terms. Customarily a consul may not seek reelection until 10 years after his first term has ended, but Gaius Marius has been elected five consulships immediately preceding the start of the game, and is standing for his 6th. Praetor Four praetors are appointed yearly by the two consuls. Their chief duty is to assist the Consuls in anything that is needed. They carry Imperium, and often serve as judges over high profile court cases, lead armies in battle, or take control over significant government projects. Aedile Four Aediles are elected each year. Their principal duties are to act as administrators over the city of Rome. Most important of these are the supervision of the public games and the food supply of the city. Good management in this office can make a Aedile very popular. Roman law states that each year, at least two of the elected Aediles but be of plebeian descent. After the Aediles are elected, the two consuls will select one Aedile to be the “Curule Aedile” who will direct each of the other three to their duties. The Curule Aedile will act as a supervisor and chief Aedile. The Curule Aedile will also hold imperium. Tribune Tribunes are the elected representatives of the people of Rome. Because of this all Tribunes must be plebs. There are five at any given time, with terms of five years. Elections are staggered so that one new tribune is elected per year. The principal political power that Tribunes have is a veto over all senatorial actions or pronouncements. Tribunes are considered sacrosanct representatives of the people, so any physical confrontation with a tribune is highly illegal. Quaestor Quaestors are appointed by the Aediles at the start of their turn. Each Aedile is allowed a single Quaestor to appoint. Quaestor is the first step on the roman political ladder. Quaestors act as clerks for the finances of the senate. This is an important job, but corruption has historically been a problem in this office. As with the Aediles, the curule aedile’s selected quaestor will be the “Quaestor Primus” whose job it will be to give a full treasury report to the senate. The other three Quaestors will be directed by the Primus to manage a specific section of the finances and give him a report (eg. one Quaestor manages provincial income, another senate spending, and the final one the trade balance). Proconsul Proconsuls are appointed at will by consuls, and therefore serve until they are replaced. An individual may govern more than one province at a time, but usually when this happens the provinces are adjacent (eg. governor of both Transalpine and Cisalpine Gaul). Governors carry Imperium within their province and manage all of its affairs. Governors are almost always former Consuls, but this is not always the case. Pontifex Maximus This is a religious office, but is still elected by the senate. A Pontifex Maximus serves for life. He is the chief authority on religious matters in Rome and therefore holds a lot of influence. However, because of his religious affiliation, once elected he is forbidden from ever holding another political office. Dictator In extreme times of crisis, the two consuls may appoint a dictator who holds absolute political and military power. He serves for a maximum of six months. A dictator possesses imperium. Dictators have historically been either one of the consuls or a man who has a long political and military history. The last dictator was appointed over 100 years ago in 202 BC, none have been needed since. Censor Censors are some of the top elected officials in Rome. Two are elected every five years (the next term will be in 98 BC) to take the census. They determine the numbers of people that live in Rome and in each province, and therefore set the tax values that the senate expects from each province each turn. At least one of the censors must be a plebeian. Imperium Imperium is the Roman concept of political power. Magistrates who carry Imperium are Consuls, Proconsuls, Praetors, and Curule Aediles. They are also immune from prosecution while they possess Imperium. An individual must have Imperium to command an army.